Still Buddies
by Yumesuta
Summary: From his spot in the Promised Land, Zack starts to think. And, of course, that's never a good thing.


Disclaimer: I don't own Zack, Cloud, Aeris, the Lifestream, the planet, or anything else that involves Final Fantasy VII. Squeenix does! Yay for Squeenix!

Note: This was a spur-of-the-moment oneshot, so it'll probably have some errors or something that I'll most likely miss. Feel free to (politely) point them out to me in a review. And yes, I know that "to politely point" is a broken infinitive or whatever. And yes, this is random. Please excuse that.

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Ahh, the Promised Land is so pretty. It's chock full of Cetras, and since I'm not a Cetra I feel pretty darned out of place. But, Aeris let me in here and she seems to be one of the important people in the Cetra's creepy little village of dead ghost Cetras, so no one's gonna complain. And yes, the village is creepy. I mean come on, it's full of _dead_ people.

…Oh wait, I'm dead, too. And so is Aeris! Well then! Never mind!

Besides, the Promised Land's a lot better than floating around in the Lifestream. Here, I can walk around, I can bug people, the people I bug can smack me, and it's really fun to run from Aeris when I accidentally mess up her flowers. But I know she's not really mad at me. Hm? How do I know? Because she's Aeris and I'm Zack and she loves me in her own way. It just happens to involve chasing me around, screaming, "ZAAAACK! STOP KILLING MY FLOWER BED!" at the top of her lungs.

When Aeris isn't chasing me, talking to me, talking to other Cetras, or being a flower girl, she spent her time gazing down at the planet, watching Cloud go about his life. Sometimes I joined her, but when Cloud went to take his morning shower, I didn't watch. Aeris did. See? I bet you thought sweet, innocent Aeris wouldn't do that, did you! Well, she does. But it's not like she's a pervert or anything. Truuust me, I'd know if she was and tease her about it every chance I got. It's the "Code of the Ex". But I swear I'm not really her ex! We're still together! Kinda! Maybe!

Speaking of Cloud, ah, what a…weird little dude. Thinking about him always reminds me of the first time we met. The SOLDIERS had to train with the trainees so that the trainees had some idea of how to do certain battle moves. Cloud was…I dunno how old, but if he attended school (I don't think Nibelheim had a school), he'd probably be in middle school…or maybe a freshman in high school. Either way, he was younger than I was.

Oh yeah, and he looked like he was going to puke when the first-class SOLDIERS came into the training facility, following none other than Sephiroth himself. The general explained what was gunna happen, though he sounded really unenthusiastic. He was always socially awkward. And then after he gave his little explanation type thing, we, the SOLDIERS, started training like usual and the little trainees tried to copy us.

Poor Cloud eventually did end up puking. I guess he was nervous. He wasn't exactly the best fighter ever at that time, and was struggling. A lot. So I went over to help him, and over time, we became buddies.

And we're still buddies. I mean, really—we both have pointy hair, so we match. Even though Cloud stole my identity, my clothes, my sword, my hair gel, my way of fighting, and my girl, we're still buddies.

I mean, I was already dead, so he could take my identity, my clothes, my sword, my hair gel, and my way of fighting. But really, did he have to steal my girl? Grr. Psh. What if I still wanted her, huh? But nooo, they had to be all like, "I like you!"

MY AERIS! MINE!

And my identity…well I was dead, but wow, he did a really poor impersonation of me. Hah. But really. My clothes? What did he do, undress my corpse? Wow. I don't wanna think about that. And my sword! HE LEFT IT OUT TO ROT! My hair gel…well, I don't care. He could take that.

He completely forgot about me, too. Completely! I don't care if I sound like a high school girl right now, no one's listening to my thoughts!

…But Cloud and I are still buddies, all right? Still buddies, as sure as Aeris is still wearing pink!

Speaking of Aeris, I think I'll go find her now. I see her house. I'm knocking on the door. Aeris is answering the door—Oh my GOD, she's wearing green.


End file.
